Everything you would like to know about General Rochambeau and the American Revolution

King Louis XVI

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The image above is special as it represents a turning point and a verification of battle plans of the principal generals near the close of the American Fight for Independence 1781. It is the result of unity between America and France.

Lest we forget! This is the setting:

In this painting by David R. Wagner, Connecticut’s own painter of the Rev War, we see General Rochambeau on the left and his American counterpart General Washington, on the right examining the map of the eastern United States.

Rochambeau has just received a message from Admiral De Grasse saying that he is on his way north from the French West Indies with the much needed cash, ships and soldier/marines to meet the combined Franco/American Army at the Chesapeake. Once they are all assembled near Yorktown, Virginia, they, along with Lafayette and his army, will force Lord General Cornwallis to back up to the bluff of Yorktown from which there is no exit!

The die is cast at this meeting in Phillipsburg, NY.

Their Christmas celebration that year would be one to celebrate! Raise a glass to King Louis XVI !!

“To the Comte’s right is a sheaf of documents upon which he has placed his hat and upon which he rests his marshal’s baton held in his right hand. He wears the full-dress uniform of a French general: a blue coat with much gold lace, red waistcoat and breeches … across his coat runs the scarlet ribbon of the Order of Saint Louis, while over his heart is attached the star of the Order of the Saint-Esprit…

…it was only in 1783, when he returned to France, that he received the more coveted Order of the Saint-Esprit…then too, he is portrayed with his marshal’s baton, which he did not receive until December of 1791 – one of the last honors that King Louis XVI was able to bestow.”
As written by the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University c.1960

The King of Spain should be remembered for his contribution to the American cause, without which we might have faltered!

Please go to page 309 in my book:

Rochambeau, Washington’s Ideal LieutenantA French General’s Role in the American Revolution

Carlos, King of Spain: Former king of Naples and Sicily and former duke of Parma and Piacenza; born Catholic into the House of Bourbon, the same family as King Louis XVI of France. He married Maria Amalia of Saxony, ascended to the throne of Spain in 1759, and reigned until his death in 1788.

King Carlos did not fully support American independence since he thought it might ignite an uprising in his own country, but he tolerated and supported covert aid beginning in 1776. After declaring war on Britain in 1779 he continued to aid the American cause in indirect ways while at the same time meeting Spain’s goals. At the request of Rochambeau and La Luzerne, De Grasse assembled the funds needed for the siege of Yorktown from Carlos’s subjects in Havana, Cuba.

Spain and its Generals on both sides of the Atlantic were most helpful in sending supplies to the insurgents in Massachusetts and in the Louisiana area as well. Spain has not received due credit for all it did to aid the UIS. I am making sure my readers are aware of their contribution.

Beaumarchais did not fit the mold at all. He was, therefore, never suspected as he carried on his undercover work to aid America~ Here is a little about him taken from p. 308 in my book from the section I call: Key Participants. There is more on Beaumarchais on pages 36, 37, and 154. Enjoy!

French dramatist who wrote The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. He encouraged King Louis XVI to become involved in the American Revolution on the side of the colonists. On April 26, 1776, he learned of the king’s decision to aid the insurgents. He sent volunteers, munitions, and supplies covertly to America through the Rodrigue Hortalez Company.

Who knew that King Louis sent aid to the American rebels in 1777 in the form of freedom sympathizers, engineers and other military experts. The Marquis de Lafayette was one, although his first voyage to the colonies was not with the King’s approval. Louis Duportail, an engineer, arrived in America in 1777 to serve in the Continental Army under General Washington. Duportail’s expertise was crucial to Washington in making the decision not to attack New York, but to march to Virginia instead.

King Louis XVI

Queen Marie Antoinette

Who knew that King Louis’s generosity in sending the hard currency needed by Rochambeau’s Army while in America contributed to the downfall of the King, his wife, Marie Antoinette, and their family who, for the most part were guillotined in 1793. King Louis and his ministers approved and shipped barrel upon barrel of silver livres to aid the U.S. Continentals during their eight year struggle against the British.

Here are a few things you may not know that happened after the Surrender of Yorktown, VA, October 19th 1781

October 19, 1781
Later that afternoon the Duc de Lauzun, French cavalry officer, faced his opposite on the battlefield of Gloucester Peninsula, Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton, British cavalry, as the latter surrendered to him.

October 19, 1781
That night Rochambeau invited the vanquished Cornwallis for supper, but was turned down. He had pled ill and skipped the Surrender Ceremonies as well.

October 21, 1781
French Commissary-in-Chief, Claude Blanchard finally took time away from the busy hospital in Williamsburg. “I went to see the City of York.”

October 24, 1781
The Duc de Lauzun was dispatched to Paris to tell King Louis XVI the good news!

October 26, 1781
Comte Guillaume de Deux Ponts was dispatched to Paris to tell the King the Good News too! (on a separate ship)

Not long after – no date given: British King George III penned a letter saying, “America is lost. Must we fall beneath the blow?”

I thought you might like to see what I worked on for 5 1/2 years, and below is a brief summary of the content. I hope that reading this account will whet your appetite to read the entire book. I have attempted to fill in what most history books of the American Revolution omit, the enormous part played by America’s first real friends, the French and the Spanish.

My friends tell me that this history book reads more like a novel than a dull, dry account and it’s a page-turner! I love hearing this as we all know the ending of the American Revolution, but the real, true story that led to this conclusion, turns out to be more thrilling!

Beginning and ending with Rochambeau, my book traces his early life in the bosom of his military ancestors through his participation in multiple European sieges, recognition by King Louis XVI for valor in battle, and his late night summons from the king to prepare to lead an American expedition, a “special delivery” of French troops and hard currency to aid the revolutionaries.

Although Washington’s cause for liberty neared failure, upon his arrival in Rhode Island, Rochambeau was received with skepticism even as he placed himself under the command of General Washington, seven years his junior, an ocean’s distance from his king and home

Over a little more than a year’s time Rochambeau and Washington forged a working relationship in spite of their differences in age, background, experience, and preferred military strategy. Eventually they merged their two armies on the Hudson Highlands of New York having determined that without the aid of France’s navy, their mission to oust the British would fail.

Patiently waiting for events to fall into place, most importantly for the French navy’s arrival at the Chesapeake, Rochambeau, who spoke little English was thousands of miles from his normal supply lines, displayed patience and sound judgment in convincing Washington to take the final battle of the American Revolution to Virginia.

Rochambeau’s 700 mile march to victory in Virginia is laced with personal accounts of American and French officers and soldiers who braved the hazards and deprivations of their nearly three year campaign over what is now named The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, aka the W3R.

My biography/military history concludes with Rochambeau’s return to France, his involvement in the French Revolution, narrowly missing the guillotine’s blade, followed by the honors bestowed on him by king and emperor and finally his quiet retirement and death in the peace and quiet of his ancestral home, the Chateau de Rochambeau.

I wish you hours of true enjoyment learning about the birthing of America ~

Jini Jones Vail, Author

Rochambeau: Washington’s Ideal Lieutenant, A French General’s Role in the American Revolution

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The author of the biography/military history, Washington's Ideal Lieutenant, A French General's Role in the American Revolution.
I am the wife of John Vail, mother of Heather, Amy and Rusty, grandmother of nine, retired French teacher. I did my graduate studies at Southern Ct State University as well as the Universities of Touraine and Bourgogne in France with extensive studies in French language and history.
I am a passionate writer of history and poetry. I also just finished writing a second book on my favorite French General, I titled: Rochambeau, Washington's Last, Best, Hope, and have two works in progress:
Within the Walls Mysteries, A Compilation of Not-by-Chance Meetings, a play: Conversations with Queen Alienor, featuring my ancestor, Alienor of Aquitaine, and my own cook book that I call Recipes and Menus, Quick, Easy and Healthy.
I served as a Commissioner for 14 years on the CT Governor's Advisory Commission on American and Francophone Cultural Affairs, Board Member of the Alliance Francaise of Northwest CT, member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Trumbull-Porter Chapter and 128 year old Literary Group.
I am currently a presenter on Rochambeau and the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route. I have combined my love of French and American History in the writing of this book.
Thank you for following my blog!